The product Pepsi Cola - Essay Example

Pepsi Cola: A Rhetorical Analysis This essay will examine and discuss three advertisements for the product Pepsi Cola in three time periods: 1900s, 1970s and 1980s. The three were selected due to the impact and lasting impression those advertisements have created on the consuming public. Exhilarating, Invigorating, Aids Digestion - 1903 (Pepsi slogans) Pepsi Cola – the product is new and fresh. It has to present a lasting appeal to the general public, and the words are choice words: “exhilarating, invigorating and aids digestion.” The time the slogan came out, the Pepsi logo had the words “delicious” and “beautiful” below the words Pepsi Cola. The advertisement was a well thought of product promotion strategy. Management was preparing for a great start. It is fit and proper to discuss first on the short historical background of how Pepsi came to be – its founder and short origin, and how it got its name, up to the present time where it has survived through the times and has taken a new name and role in the beverage business. Pepsi Cola was first invented or introduced by Caleb Bradham in the late 1800s or early 1900s in his pharmacy. The term “Pepsi” comes from pepsin, an enzyme which aids digestion and was also a popular ingredient in early soft drinks, while the term Cola was based on the African kola nut or caffeine. Pepsi Cola then tasted pretty close to the already popular “Coca-Cola”, although Caleb’s drink, Pepsi Cola, didn’t contain either the kola nut or any caffeine. (Soda Museum) The term “Pepsi” is an indicator. One of Pepsi-Cola’s earliest known advertisement is found in the Feb. 25th, 1903 New Bern Daily Journal, which says that “It aids digestion.” This is because of the pepsin content. Another newspaper ad produced in 1908 said “Pepsi-Cola is an absolutely pure combination of pepsin – that’s what your stomach needs these days – acid phosphate and the juices of fresh fruits.” (Soda Museum) The promotional kick-off must be effective because at the start Caleb was selling 2,008 gallons of Pepsi-Cola syrup, and by 1904 he was selling 19,848 gallons a year, the same year he started bottling Pepsi Cola. A year later, he also began selling Pepsi-Cola Bottling franchises, and by 1910 he had 280 bottling franchises and covered at least 24 states. By 1907, he was selling over 100,000 gallons of syrup a year, and in 1915 Pepsi-Cola Corporation had assets of over $1,000,000. (History of Pepsi-Cola.) Judging by the flow of events in the early years of Pepsi, the product and the accompanying advertisement proved effective. The consumer, the general public, took the bite and accepted the new soft drinks as another part of their daily beverage intake. Caleb became rich for a time, but not for long. When the war broke out, it was now a different story. The ethical aspect of this first advertisement of Pepsi can be questioned mainly because it wasn’t sure if the original Pepsi Cola really contained pepsin. It was a promotional gimmick, and could be far from the truth. But the people took it because of its taste which was near to the taste of the existing popular Coca-Cola. Catch That Pepsi Spirit, take the Pepsi Challenge – the 1970s (Pepsi slogans) The Pepsi Challenge has been an ongoing marketing promotion since 1975. Pepsi conducted blind taste tests in stores which suggested that more consumers preferred the taste of Pepsi to Coke. During these blind taste tests the majority of participants picked Pepsi as the better tasting of the two soft drinks. PepsiCo took great advantage of the campaign with television commercials reporting the test results to the public. The sales of Pepsi started to climb. The company kicked off the “Challenge” across the nation. (Wikipedia) The decade of the seventies, then properly known as “the spirit of the seventies”, had the style such as wide ties, sideburns, synthetic fabrics, white shoes, disco. This was also the time of the Vietnam war and anti-war demonstrations in campuses of universities. The atmosphere was hot. The studentry and the young were at the core of activities. It can be safe to state that under the new management – the merging of PepsiCo which started in the middle of the sixties – Pepsi was all ready to tap the wider consumer demographic, the young. Since Coca-Cola was its long-time rival, the management then made its move – let the public take the challenge. It was an effective slogan and strategy that caught the attention of the general public, at a time when people were “feeling hot”, or were tired of the war and anti-war demonstrations. Whatever its ethical implications, it had Coca-Cola worry over sales. There was however an ethical question: was Pepsi telling the truth of the Pepsi taste? We couldn’t judge outright for by then that is the unethical part of it. The public is the judge, PepsiCo would reason out. In 1970, however, Pepsi was banned from import in India for having refused to release the list of its ingredients. (Wikipedia) The Choice of a New Generation – 1984 (Pepsi slogans) During this time, the now PepsiCo has restructured to focus on its three core businesses: soft drinks, snack foods and restaurants. The company has gone through many shifts, mergers and acquisitions. Diet Pepsi is reformulated with 100% NutraSweet. Pepsi-Cola makes advertising history as Michael Jackson and his brothers usher in a new generation of Pepsi-Cola advertising in two of the most eagerly-awaited television commercials featuring music marketing – “The Choice of a New Generation.” (PepsiCo) The 1980s was the time for binge buying and credit became a way of life. “Shop till you drop” was the watchword. It was also the time for video games, aerobics, minivans, camcorders. The sexual revolution found its adversary when Rock Hudson died of Aids. (Kingwood 1) So this was the time when people really had money to buy or to resort to a buying spree, and Pepsi took the initiative. What could be more convincing than the idol of the young dancing or “convincing” them to shift to the “choice of a new generation”? Michael Jackson always and ever on the center stage doing music marketing was a big promotional gimmick Coca-Cola had again to worry about. The choice was again effective. In 1985, The Coca-Cola Company, amid much publicity, changed its formula. Some authorities believed that the New Coke, as the reformulated drink came to be known, was invented specifically in response to the Pepsi Challenge. However, a consumer backlash led to Coca-Cola quickly introducing a modified version of the original formula (removing the expensive Haitian lime oil and changing the sweetener to corn syrup) as Coke “Classic”. (Wikipedia) The war of the soft drinks continues, this time with more complications, mergers, and gimmicks. The ethical implication for this is that companies and businesses really come to different tactics and strategies in order to get the attention of the public. This does not apply only to soft drinks and beverages but to all kinds of product. A product is a product always for sale. But a gimmick is a gimmick. The public must be protected against this. And this, too, does not only apply to a certain time period. Whatever the time period, the culture, or the trend of the time, people resort to gimmick, especially businesses, where a trick or a strategy seems to be a starting point or that which saves a business. In the case of Pepsi Cola, the business went through several upturns or downturns in its survival through decades in the hands of different managers and owners with different orientation, that it can be said that the original taste is long gone. The name must have caught the imagination of consumers when it comes to soft drinks. During the early years of its invention and introduction to the people, Pepsi Cola was popular because of the taste. And since it was limited to a local area where the founder introduced it, it was quite popular in that area. Now it is an international name. Management uses advertisements with universal meaning. Food and beverages have to respond to the taste of consumers of different cultures. The most important thing is that there must be truth in advertisement. Cited Works Kingwood College Library. Sept 2006. American Cultural History. 8 Oct 2007. Lemann, Nicholas. Americanheritage.com. July-Aug 1991. How the Seventies Changed America. 8 Oct 2007. Wikipedia Foundation Inc. 8 Oct 2007. Pepsi. 9 Oct 2007. PepsiCo website. PepsiCo History Timeline: 1984 Milestones. 8 Oct 2007. Pepsi slogans. 8 Oct 2007 Soda Museum.com. The History of Pepsi Cola. 8 Oct 2007 Read More